The self-improving drive of the Iromakuanhe, while a powerful socioeconomic and spiritual force, has had a social downside in the vanity and aesthetic favoritism. Among those who had received genetic treatments before birth or had been fortunate enough to be blessed with beautiful physical appearances was a sense of vanity and hubris, as they were closer to the complete ideal than others. In retaliation to this attitude, the cults of Yetsava The Beautiful incorporated a public denouncement of vanity and discrimination based on appearance, while the religious Commonwealth as a whole abandonned the inheritance of physical beauty as an ideal attribute. The secular world began downplaying the idealized beauty of its people, and the government pushed to make orthodox (non-transgenic) genetic modifications subsidized by the state, largely to eliminate crippling and disfiguring diseases, but also to artificially enhance and diversify the genetic stock.
Aesthetic surgeries had been in practice since the dawn of the Iromakuanhe Astral Commonwealth, but only until the invention of the microsurgically capable symbiote known as Prajna were such skills made an art form. Jointly developed by Solan Starworks and Altjira Biomedical, a more slow-acting variant was designed to be used jointly with genetic modification therapies for the purposes of creating genetically inheritable physical modifications for the masses of the Commonwealth.
Somatic tuners are medical specialists who couple the techniques of the plastic surgeon, geneticist, symbioticist and network technologies engineer, in tandem with more specialized technical staff and manage state-funded clinics where such procedures can be made.
Developer: Solan Starworks, Altjira Biomedical Producer: Altjira Biomedical Availability: Iromakuanhe Astral Commonwealth, Vanguard Intelligence Agency
Prices are in KD, and only for member worlds and colonies of the Iromakuanhe Astral Commonwealth. Prices may differ elsewere.
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Among citizens of the Commonwealth with any crippling or disfigurement caused by external or genetic causes may receive a dispensation, allowing them any required procedures for free. People diagnosed with gender identity syndrome may receive a single, complete full body alteration procedure, as are those who have received crippling tissue damages and were unable to regenerate using normal medical facilities due to genetic damage.
Soldiers of the Astral Vanguard are also allowed up to 5000 KD in procedures every 6 months, and in case of weakened health from zero-gravity conditions. This credit is cumulative, but cannot be traded for salary.
All procedures have a degree of permanence because of the addition of gene therapies to the treatment, but the effects of some Minor treatments can be reversed by the body in the span of 7 years because of the slim possibility of converted cells producing unconverted cells during mitosis. If this time elapses without reverting to the original appearance, the effects can be considered permanent.
The procedure involves either stimulating or shutting down hair follicles in areas designated by the patient, while the Prajna suspension provides the raw materials to grow new hair without draining the body's resources. Hair in areas that are being suppressed are broken down into basic amino acids all the way down to the root and are processed harmlessly.
Split ends and environmental damage are also repaired for free, giving it a naturally healthy sheen.
The nails are grown or trimmed to the user's specifications, and given a microscale resurfacing, making them incredibly smooth and healthy-looking.
The horns are grown or shortened to the user's specifications and can be textured to their preferences. While generally healthy, modified horns may be slightly tender or soft for up to two weeks after the treatment. This is remedied by dietary supplements which can reinforce the root and body, reducing the recovery time to a handful of days.
Because glowing eyes are a sign of greater age, some individuals proscribe to the vanity of looking young and have their eyes deliberately desaturated to make them look younger. Desaturation cannot be reverted by the body because it is not caused by the cellular structure.
Because of traditionalist individuals with particular tastes, some Iromakuanhe females (occasionally, or frequently) have their hymen and 'inner muscles' repaired to give the illusion of virginity. While elective for many, this procedure is offered for free to victims of rape.
Using microscale symbiotes to peel and heal the upper layers of skin, this procedure reverses damages to the skin and can give it a natural, beautiful glow. Scar tissues are metastasized by the body and converted into healthy tissue, blemishes are healed and the complexion is refined to the user's preferences.
Tattoos can be drawn on the body with incredible precision, refinished or recolored, and even removed in the span of an hour because the artificial pigmentation is only in the skin. Clinics that offer this procedure often have a few dedicated tattoo artists for more personalized designs.
Pigmentation modifications allow the patient to alter the color of their skin, eye, and hair, even allowing for the selection of some unnatural or unusual colors. These alterations are permanent because of genetic therapies, so patients seeking more temporary alterations are suggested to resort to cosmetic dyes, pigmentation agents, and eye drops.
Muscle and skeletal modifications allow a person to resize their general build and musculature, as well as repair losses in 'hard' and 'soft' tissue density that can occur during exceptional periods of time spend in microgravity (zero-grav), without regular tissue-repair treatments. This treatment is effectively permanent, but can be reversed through additional processes, environmental conditions such as microgravity or illness.
Facial resculpting is a procedure that involves modifying the bones, muscles and fatty tissue deposits beneath the skin of the face, while altering, removing or adding facial features such as tumors, growths, scars and markings, while restoring the tissues of the face that may have been lost to injury. A procedure of choice among the criminal underground in black-market-labs, it is typically coupled with pigmentation alterations to completely disguising the appearance of a person at a glance.
Procedures which alter the fatty tissues in the body have been a favorable alternative to liposuction and implant technology since the time the Iromakuanhe's advanced biotechnology had reached the point of cellular regeneration symbiotes. This allowed for the painless enlargement and reduction of breasts, hips and thighs, while moulding the fatty tissues of the face to create a more attractive appearance. Fatty tissues are rarely removed, but instead made to release their stored lipids into the bloodstream where they are broken down carried out of the body by Prajna.
Organ restoration is an extensive procedure which regenerates lost or damaged organs, by certain toxic metals and tissue degradation experienced by the unprepared after extensive periods of time in zero gravity environments, or genetic damages. To reverse the genetic damages related to cancer or congenital diseases, an additional day is required to carry out the treatment.
Alterations to the vocal chords can allow a skilled somatic specialist to repair damages caused by inhalation of toxic, damaging substances, strain or overuse and can even be
Bone density restoration is a simple procedure which restores the mineral density of bones after extensive periods in zero gravity or the effects of certain wasting illnesses. Included in the Muscular and Skeletal procedure, this therapy is offered to patients who were able to maintain adequate muscle mass despite loss of bone density, or wish to receive a strengthening of their current skeletal structure.
Quick Body Modification is colloquially referred to as 'flash facing' or 'husking', because it is relatively quick compared to more complete alteration techniques, and only alters certain elements of body chemistry and the overall structure, rather than a more total conversion that would would more radically refine the subject's genes and physiology. With this sort of treatment, nearly all characteristics within the standard bounds of the subject's species are attainable, including physical sex and non-visual cues such as the qualities of a voice or peculiarities of a person's smell. As their bodies are being modified, their consciousness are submerged in a digital network to maintain contact with the world, frequently with an OGNEIR.net connection, or kept occupied with digital training courses that are meant to allow the person to fine tune mannerisms and learn new ones to complement their bodies. In the case of radical changes in height, body shape, and especially cases where the individual is undergoing a change of sex, the mind is placed in a simulation to familiarize it with the parameters of the new body.
Unfortunately, the procedure has limitations related to the relative quickness of modification, and lack of complex restructuring of the reproductive tract for patients undergoing gender modifications. Although the subject will have functional external organs, the reproductively-essential internals (ovaries, uterus, testicles, prostate) of the system are metastasized by the body and not recreated, save for placeholder tissues meant to give an illusion of functionality. Patients undergoing same-sex alterations will still be fertile, but carry the genes of their original bodies.
The full body modification is nearly identical to the 'fast' variety, save that the changes cause permanent alterations to a person's genes and allow them to be fertile in cases of cross-gender modification. Although permanent, the genetic changes are not irreversible and may be redacted again at a later date, although this is generally considered unhealthy and may result in an accumulation of damages to the genes. Aside from purely aesthetic or psychological reasons, the body modification is also the only treatment which can reverse the effects of aging on cells, extending telomeres and undoing damages by free radicals, etc.
There are eventual limits on these proceedures and a threshold where they can no longer be performed, but it quite possible that some percentage of the Iromakuanhe populace are far older than they appear…